It all began with a Caelan's early birthday trip to see Star Wars. Buck took the kids to the matinee (yay, $5 tickets!), while I popped It's a Wonderful Life in the bluray and started wrapping Christmas gifts. I'd also arranged to visit by phone with my birthday-month buddy, Lisa, from California. We always call each other on our birthdays--except I was travelling on both of them! We arranged for this morning, because I knew I had the house to myself and plenty of time to catch up--though it did bring my wrapping to a stand still ;)
I met the Buck and the kids at The Olive Garden for Caelan's early birthday lunch. Grandma J sent a gift card as a surprise, so we were able to take care of half the bill with that (oh my carrots that place is expensive with all but one eating off the non-kids menu! :) So good, though! As we munched, the kids kind of talked over their thoughts on the latest installment of the Star Wars saga--some good things, some bad things; overall, they weren't super into it, although Buck says it is in his top two!
Afterwards, Buck took B and G home, while G$, C, and I went to the craft store. The girls were asked to make a sixth bear (I think I told you that?) for the same family at church and needed more stuffing and eyes (Gabby replaced the eyes and stuffing on one of Caelan's childhood teddy bears and it looks so much happier now :). Graysen wanted to help make his own bear, and didn't care for the nose style (he prefers non-nostril) the girls had on hand. He selected a set of noses he liked, and said the girls could use the rest of them :) He also picked out some fabric for a sports team he likes and then spent the rest of the day working on tracing and cutting out the pattern--by himself!
As you can see from the photo, everyone was busy with something--Caelan was finishing the knit part of her coffee shop order, Gabby sewed on all the buttons for the final 25, Graysen was working on his bear, and Brennen was finger knitting. You can't hear pictures, but of course an audio book was playing in the background. Their upstairs busyness worked out great for my downstairs wrapping. I finished everything before bedtime, well 90 percent of everything--I still have a few things to finalize.
Caelan asked if she could stay up just a little bit late to finish Graysen's sewing, and wouldn't you know it, she did! Another bear constructed in a day, and a very happy brother who helped make himself a new friend :)
Today marked the completion of Caelan's Georgia order--wow, I can't tell you how many hours she's spent knitting on this set of fifty, and how many buttons lived on our table for the past couple weeks, and the yarn, needles, sewing accoutrements--it's been non-stop! But she and her sister did it! Yay! We shipped the second round of the order this morning, and the lady at the mail desk--who has handled an almost literal mountain of boxes, packages, and envelopes this holiday season--said, "Oh, are you the girl who knits?!" Caelan wasn't even with me the last time we shipped her order, but the lady (who also knits) remembered chatting with me about it. Pretty cool!
Today was another busy project today--Buck has 15 employees to Christmas this year. Since Caelan already made everyone hats last year, we decided to go with *Merry Movie Night* bundles as gifts. Grayen was in charge of taping the candy and popcorn together. I wrote the Redbox movie codes into each card, Buck signed and thanked his employees, Brennen and Graysen stuffed the envelopes, and then Gabby was my ribbon helper--tying knots and doing the scissor curl thing to make them cute :) Caelan--well, she was knitting (she still has a smidge of MY order to finish up :)
And FINALLY--for today anyway--a new little critter we have nicknamed, Kringle :) He's adorable and so tiny! But, no, we are not crazy (look at Chauncey in the background--"I can't believe you people." ha!), he's not ours. We are just hamster-sitting, so this little guy can appear as a Christmas morning surprise for our neighbor girl who will be over the moon when she finds him!
Okay, I take back my finally . . . I almost forgot that Buck is dealing with some very cute, but very destructive little critters--in his car! He found a chewed through homeless care package in the back seat; and then a hole in the upholstery of the driver's seat :( He traced the entry point to a section under the driver's side floor mat--a big hole chewed through the floor. I mean, I dealt with mice living in *my* car on the farm, but we live in town now, this should NOT be an issue! Buck set a trap in front and in the back, and within an hour had captured a mouse. He reset the trap and this morning found a SECOND mouse--he's got two more traps out there, now. He hopes to get the fat little furries cleared out before spray foaming the thing shut in hopes of keeping further vehicle destroyers at bay. Good grief!
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